Top EPA official is keynote speaker at climate conference in Keene

By MEGHAN PIERCE Union Leader CorrespondentApril 27. 2014 8:04PMKEENE — A top Environmental Protection Agency official will be the keynote speaker at the Northeast Climate Change Preparedness Conference in Keene next month.

The Antioch University New England event is scheduled for May 19 through May 21.

Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is scheduled to give the keynote address on May 19, opening the conference.

The conference is the kickoff event for the university’s new center for matters of climate change.

In March, Antioch University New England announced the creation of the new Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience in response to President Barack Obama’s Climate Data Initiative.

According to the school, the center will encourage “private and public innovators to use data on the risks and effects of climate change to help citizens, businesses, and communities make smart choices.”

Other officials set to speak at the conference include Cameron Wake, research associate professor of climatology and glaciology at the University of New Hampshire Climatology and director of Climate Solutions New England; Curt Spaulding, regional administrator for the EPA; Deborah Markowitz, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources; Sarah Hoveter, Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; and Perry Plummer, Director of New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The conference is geared to teach planners how to build resilient communities and how to prepare for severe weather and the impacts of climate change.